Clutch mechanism for counters



Nov. 1l, 1941.

A. HEMMINGsoN 2,262,437

CLUTCH MECHANISM FOR COUNTERS Original Filed Oct. 27, 1957 Patented Nov. 11, 1941 CLUTCH MECHANISM FOR COUNTERS Alfred Hemmingson, Cambridge, Mass., assignor to Waltham. Watch Company, Waltham, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts @riginal application October 27, 1937, Serial No. 171,269. Divided and this application January 20, 1939, Serial No. 252,005

(Cl. l19E-4:3)

3 Claims.

This invention relates to clutch mechanisms for counters, including such as have a plurality of counting units, each adapted to be selectively coupled with a driving means for operation independently of the others by one and the same machine. Such counters are used in various situations where a single machine is run under the supervision of two or more operators in rotation and it is desired to register the Work of each operator separately over a more or less extended period of time. A counter embodying this invention has been chosen for illustration here Which is designed for application to a loom and to add progressively and separately the number of picks of lling woven into the cloth by the loom under control of weavers working in three shifts, from week to Week.

This application is a division of my prior ap plication Serial No.- 171,269, filed October 27, 1937. The object of that phase of the invention to which the instant application is addressed is to furnish an improved and simplied means by which each counter unit at will may be connected with, and the other units at the same time disconnected from, a single machine element which receives motion from the loom or other machine to which the counter is applied. This object has been accomplished by providing clutches having a simple selective clutch controller associated therewith in a novel manner. The means here referred to, in the ernbodirnent hereinafter described and in all embodiments equivalent thereto, and all novel subcombinations and parts thereof, constitute the present invention for which I seek protection.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the accompanying drawing a form thereof which is at present preferred, since the same has been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, although it is to be understood that the various instrumentalities of which the invention consists can be variously 'arranged and organized and that the invention Figs. 3 and 4 are detail cross sections of one of the counter units Ataken on lines 3 3 and 4-4 respectively of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows applied to said lines.

Like reference characters designate the same parts wherever they occur in all the iigures.

For convenience of description the instrument here shown may be referred to as a three shift pick counter, since it is'adapted to count the operations of a loom under the control of three different operators separately. But this designation is not intended, and should not be assumed, to carry any implication of limitations in the scope and utility of the invention. In this embodiment the working parts are contained in a metal box made as a die casting having an integrally united back Wall II and side walls I2, I3, I4 and I5, and a detachable cover I5 secured in any suitable manner to the side Walls. Three counting units are mounted in parallel in the casing. They are all alike and a description of the lcwerrnost one, which is shown in detail in this drawing, will suice for all.

A series or disks IT, I8, I9, 20, commonly called number wheels, are mounted side by side rotatably on a shaft 2l which in turn is mounted rotatably in bushings 22 and 23 set into the opposite side walls I2 and I4 of the casing. These wheels are of standard character, each having numbers from one to nine and zero on its outer circumference. The right hand wheel IT, or wheel of lowest order, is rigidly connected to a sleeve 24, and carries on its lefthand side a notched disk 25 and a mutilated gear 26 by Which intermittent motion is transmitted to the next wheel through a carrying pinion 2'I rotatably mounted on a parallel shaft 28. The pinion 21 meshes with a complete gear 28a. secured to a bushing 29 on which the number wheel I8 is rotatable, which gear carries a pawl 3s occupying a recess in the number wheel and adapted to enter any one of ten notches 3| in the surrounding rim of the number wheel. Such pawl and notches constitute a one Way clutch by which forward counting movement is imparted to the wheel I8, and which permits said wheel to be independently advanced in the same direction for resetting. Like carrying mechanisms are provided between the wheels I3 and I9 and between the wheels I9 and 20.

A gear 32, rotatable on shaft 2I, meshes with a worm 33 on a shaft 34 which rotates in bearings in the end walls I3 and I5 of the casing. A disconnectible clutch is provided between the sleeve 24 and gear 32, consisting of a sleeve 35 having a notched flange 36 at the end next to the gear, and carrying, in rigid connection with its opposite end portion, a disk 31 having lugs 38 extending through notches in a disk 39 secured non-rotatably to the sleeve 24. The interconnected disks 31 and 39 provide a splined connection between the clutch sleeve 35 and the lowest order number wheel I1. A spring 40 between the sleeve 24 and clutch sleeve 35 presses the latter toward the gear 32 and causes the flange 36 to bear on the face of said gear whenever permitted by a clutch shifter 4l. Pins 42 are mounted in the side of gear 32 and are spaced so as to enter the notches in flange 36 when the latter is thus brought up to the gear.

The common drive shaft 34 has two other worms like the worm 33, which are designated 33a and 33h and are suitably spaced to mesh with the driving gears 32a and 32h (corresponding to the gear 32) of the other two counting units. This shaft is driven from the machine with which the counter is associated by an external shaft 43 and a gear train 44, 45, 46, shown in Fig. 1 The clutch shifter 4| previously mentioned is a rod mounted rotatably in the end walls of the casing parallel to the drive shaft, in front of the clutch sleeves 35 and close beside the coupling disks 31 thereof. The rod is cut away in different sides adjacent to the coupling disks 31 of the several units, and each out away part or notch is of sufficient length to admit the disk when turned toward the latter, and of sufficient depth to permit movement of the disk and clutch sleeve from the position where the flange 36 on such sleeve is clear of the clutch pins 42, to the position where the notches in said iiange receive the pins. stood that the shifter rod is suitably located so that when turned in the manner to bring its unnotched side or surface against the disk 31, the clutch is shifted to, and held in, its disconnected position. The shifter rod is made with so large a diameter that, when thus cut away to the required depth, it still possesses adequate strength and stiffness. The three notches or flats provided in the illustrated embodiment of the shifter, which are distinctively designated in Fig. 1 as 41, 48 and 49, are spaced angularly around the axis of the rod 90 apart from one another, which permits placement of the shifter in four positions of angular rotation, in three of which a selected one only of the three counting units is connected to its driving gear, and in the fourth of which all ,the units are disconnected. It may be thus rotated, and locked. in each of the designated positions, by an external knob 50 which may be splined to the rod by a set screw 5l occupying a groove 52 in the side of the rod, and which may have a lug on its end adapted to enter .any one of four equiangularly spaced notches 54 on the outside of the casing wall I3. A spring 55 reacting between the rod and knob permits the latter to be disengaged from the notches and causes its lug to snap into any notch with which it is brought into register.

The present invention may be embodied in other specic forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, vand it is therefore desired that the present embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and rnot restrictive, reference being had to the ap- It is to be under-v 1. Clutch mechanism for a counting mechanism having a plurality of selectively driven units and common driving means for all of said driven units, said clutch mechanism including clutch means for each driven unit for making and breaking driving connection between the associated unit and said common driving means, each clutch means including an axially-shiftable disc-like element adapted when shifted in one direction to make the driving connection between said associated driven unit and said common driving means, and when shifted in the opposite direction to break the aforesaid driving connection, a rotatable clutch-actuating selector rod having its longitudinal axis paralleling the planes of said disc-like elements, said rod extending across each of said disc-like elements and itself directly contacting all of said elements when rotated about its longitudinal axis, said rod contacting each of said disc-like elements along a relatively elongated zone of length generally equal'to the length of the Zone of mutual overlap of said rod and said disc-like element, said selector rod having longitudinally spaced recesses there-along in respective juxtaposition with said disc-like elements, said recesses being angularly distributed around said rod in such fashion that each presents itself in succession towards its respectively-associated disc-like element as the selector rod vis rotated, said rod recesses each being at least coextensive with the juxtaposed portions of its associated disc-like element when turned toward the latter, and resilient means constantly urging said shiftable disc-like elements toward said selector rod, whereby said disc-like elements will be successively shifted into and out of said rod recesses as the rod is turned, Vwith thel paths of movement of said shiftable disc-like elements lying at least partially within the overall crosssectional outline of said selector rod.

2. A clutch mechanism for a counting mechanism having driving means for operating said counting mechanism, said clutch mechanism in- .'cluding rotatably mounted axially shiftable clutch means arranged when moved in one direction to make driving connection between the counting mechanism and the driving means and when moved in the opposite direction to break the driving connection therebetween, a rotatable control rod having its longitudinal axis extending in al direction generally perpendicular to the direction of movement of said axially shiftable means, the outer surface of said control rod being recessedon one side,'the transverse cross-sectional area of said rod atv said recessed portion lbeing less than the cross-sectional rod area at either end of said recessed portion, relatively rigid structural means associated with said shiftable means having a portion thereof disposed alongside the recessed control rod and receivable inthe recess thereof, said rigid structural meansr being intermediate the aforesaid means and including a rotatable member permanently connected with said driving means and another rotatable member permanently connected with said driven means, said latter clutch member being axially shiftable into and out of driving engagement with the other clutch member, a rotatable control rod extending in a direction generally transverse to the direction of shifting movement of said shiftable clutch member and having a portion thereof in juxtaposition with a side portion of said shiftable clutch member, said juxtaposed portion of said control rod bearing a recess on one side of size suicent to receive the juxtaposed side portion of said shiftable clutch member, resilient means constantly urging said shiftable clutch member towards said control rod, said clutch members being in driving engagement when the side portion of said shiftable member has entered said recess and further being out of driving engagement when the side portion of said shiftable member has left said recess, the side portion of said shiftable member which is in said recess when the clutch members are fully engaged being spaced from the innermost wall of said recess, whereby said shiftable clutch member may thereafter rotate free and clear of said control rod.

ALFRED HEMMINGSON. 

